Son unable to swallow prescrip pills

My 8-y.o. son have been having problems in school. His behavior, poor grades, not concentration on work, being impulsive and excitable. He's a good boy. He has been diagnosed with ADHD. He was given Concerta but the problem is...He never taken pills. Usually chewables or liquid. He tried taking it with juice, ice cream, I tried pushing it towards the back of mouth and he cant seem to get it down. The school nurse tried as well unsuccessfully.

Could yall share any techniques and/or solution or other remedy.

Thank you in advance.

Tena

My nephew still occasionaly has problems getting his Concerta down in the morning, even with the squeeze bottle. So on those days, we put the pill inside a spooful of yogurt (luckily he loves the thick, custard-style yogurt) and he swallows the whole thing down in one gulp. The only reason we don't do this every day i because eventually he is just going to have to learn to swallow the pill, so we continue to try the squeeze bottle first every day.

Pills

My son used to choke down his pills and sometimes does. There are some medications that come in liquid, but I believe you have to request them at the doctors and remind the pharmacy.

You wouldn't be able to have the school nurse to do this, but I have a garlic crusher, I crush the pill and then give him a little apple sauce mixed with his pill. Other than that I AM out of I deas SORRY!

mOM IN MONTANA

OOps It is important to tell you that if it is a time release pill it is not okay to crush it SORRY

The squeezable water bottle is, by far, the best thing we have tried. It seems to go down of the first or second try and the child seems to think it is more fun, which takes some of the pressure off.

When my then-6-year-old son needed to take some horse-pill sized antibiotics, his doctor suggested that he fill his mouth with water first, then poke the pill in and swallow. This has worked great for him and might be worth a try! Good luck! -Cindy Hi Tena Read my post something to help my son is also 8Hi Tena ~ my 6 year old daughter has just recently (in the past 2 weeks) mastered swallowing pills. She is not on any prescriptions but she does take supplements (some of which are pretty large). The way I taught her was to make a game out of it ~ I started with mini m&m's, I put 6 or 7 on the table and gave her a cup of water or juice (whatever she wanted) and told her as soon as she could swallow one without chewing it she could eat the rest ~ the first time she tried she swallowed the 2nd one ~ we did this a few times a day ~ after the initial try she swallowed the 1st one every time. I cheered her on and made a really big deal out if it when she swallowed. Then we moved up to regular m&m's for a few days and from there we went on to mini jelly beans ~ now she can swallow pretty much anything. She takes a total of 6 supplements a day, 3 of them she has swallow. She's so proud of herself that she has to show everyone that comes in the door by swallowing something (usually a raisin). I don't know if this will work ~ but it worked for me ~ especially since she doesn't usually get to eat candy much. I hope this helped ~ Good luck.hi my daugter is nine and still refuses to swallow pills whole.what we do is crush her medicine(adderall)and out it on aspoon with water.she takesit with little problem.before this we tried hiding it in food,putting the med in acup of verylittle water.At school the nurse uses this method.i hope this helps

My 6 yr old nephew just started on Concerta this morning. Because the Concerta is a time-release we could not crush it up or let him chew it. He had also never had to swallow pills, and we had a heck of a time getting it down him this morning. We tried using a straw, putting water in his mouth first, putting toward the back of his throat, etc. Nothing seemed to work and he started getting really upset about it. It took about 20 minutes and it was just a freak accident that he actually ended up swallowing it. I hope we can find an easier way because I hate the thought of having to go through this every morning. I may try the suggestion of having his practice with something like M & M's....maybe it will be easier for him if the pressure is off and we try to make a game out of it. Thanks for that suggestion.

Tena,

I had the same problem with my son a few years ago. A trick that the doctor told me that I could use is using applesauce or pudding. If it is a time released capsule just open the capsule and sprinkle inside or if it is a tablet just use a pill crusher and then sprinkle it into it. It took him a while to learn but now he successfully swallows his meds. Hope this helps.

Tena:

One thing we tried this morning that seemed to work. Instead of having them swallow the pills with a regular glass or using a straw, we had him put the pill in his mouth and use one of those squeezable, sport bottles where they kind of have to suck the water out, to wash the pill down. He was able to get it down on the first try.

that is a great idea with the water bottle. I thought of the instruments that some pet owners use that is long and you kind of shoot it to the back of the throat but I think the water bottle idea is the best.

Thank yall for your responses. We have managed to get the pills down in the morning with the help of fresh raspberries. I would put the pill inside one of the raspberries and he would follow with 1 or 2 more r-berries to push it down. And so far it has worked. I dont know for how long, but so far so good. I think i will try the M&ms solution when the r-berries no longer works for him. So far he has only conplained one day of feeling a little woozy on Concerta 18mg. He also seemed to not talk so much in the class room. Im going to observe him another week to be sure of the effects. It just hurts my heart to have to use such meds on him. [QUOTE=Tena]

Could yall share any techniques and/or solution or other remedy.

Thank you in advance.

Tena

[/QUOTE] My son was also unable to swallow pills, and his dr. prescribed Metadate CD, which also has a time release effect and comes in a capsule. He opens the capsules and eats the medication in applesauce or yogurt. This removes a huge amount of stress. Maybe your dr. would be able to use the same sort of approach. Sandraj

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